by Ali Cross
I rock back onto my heels, and with my hand resting on Nic’s chest where I can feel the steady rhythm of his breathing, I go in search of the Mind’s bomb package to see if I can retrace Nic’s steps. He’d said I could fix it—and I hope he is right.
I find the bomb, find the chamber that had stored the virus, empty now. And then sigh with relief. Nic left a copy of the tag he added. I open Archibald’s cache and pull from it a sample of my Servant’s DNA. Something whispers inside of me, like a ghost from the past, but I ignore it, keeping my attention focused on the DNA. I untangle it, separating out the piece he has in common with me, and focus instead on the 99% that is Mind. Using it as a guide, I create an anti-virus that will sweep through the networks, cleaning away any of the virus clinging to any tech that does not have the Mind string attached.
I wipe my sweaty palms on my thighs, then focus on Nic. I need to test the anti-virus, and I need Nic’s help to send it swiftly across the network—if it works. I don’t dare test it on our ship first because if I am wrong, if I fail, I will destroy our only hope to reach the rest of the fleet. So I brush the hair off Nic’s forehead and prepare myself to use him as my test subject.
“Oh excellent,” Galen croons from the screen above the console. “I see I am not too late. I’ve brought a guest to watch this final episode of the Saviors of Mankind. It’s a tragic story, really. And everyone knows how it will end. Still, it is entertaining.”
His words are annoyances, buzzing around my mind and pestering me, making me lose my concentration. I force his voice out of my head.
I lean down, my lips hovering over Nic’s. “If this doesn’t work, please forgive me.” I brush my lips against his in a light kiss, then lean down with more intention. I send the antivirus through my kiss into Nic’s blood stream. I try to follow it as long as I can, but soon it is beyond my reach. I lean back, my eyes glued to his closed ones, my hand resting on his forehead, the other on his chest. I wish and pray the anti-virus will work.
“Serantha.” The voice is raspy, low. Barely above a whisper. But it’s enough to freeze me. I’m aware of part of my mind counting the seconds until Nic wakes . . .
one . . .
but I’m turning . . .
two . . .
turning . . .
three . . .
toward that voice.
“There! Perfect timing, my dear. I had hoped you would see who had joined the party.” Gart steps into view, Archibald’s head stuck on his titanium claw as though on a spear, a power pack dangling from the wires and sinews dangling from Archibald’s neck. “What a fitting end to your Servant.”
Nic’s breath hitches but my eyes are glued to the screen.
“Serantha.” Archibald opens his eyes. They find mine immediately and I realize—when I opened his cache, the connection between us was strengthened, like a switch had been flipped. I can feel him now, his symbiants a quiet echo of my own.
I love you, I tell him across the miles that separate us.
Four . . . Five . . . Six . . . Seven.
I turn away from Archibald and focus instead on Nic.
Nic’s eyes pop open. They are clear of the virus! As soon as his eyes find mine, he lurches upward, his hand wrapping around the back of my neck, pulling my face to his.
He crushes a kiss to my lips. I knew you could do it, he rasps in my mind, his thoughts breathless from relief, love, and the tang of fear.
I hear clapping. I move so Nic and I can both see the screen. Gart smiles wickedly and draws a finger down Archibald’s cheek, but Archibald’s eyes remain closed. He is so pale, so artificial seeming—it’s hard to believe he could still be alive. That he ever lived.
As if he senses my confusion his eyes open once more.
Galen dabs his lips with a napkin. “Well, I applaud you. Truly, I do. But have no fear—with the Empire of the East under my command, we’ll be seeing each other very soon.” Galen moves to flick his hand—to dismiss us or end the com.
“Wait.” Archibald’s raspy voice rings loudly enough he draws all our attention. And then he smiles.
It is a smile I knew as a child. The one that said, I know your parents said it wasn’t safe to ride the serving cart down the hall, but here, let me push you.
I cock my head, trying to discern Archibald’s meaning. His eyes never leave mine while he says, “Galen, old friend.”
Archibald smiles and Galen takes his head into his hands while Gart steps back. He stares darkly at the screen while Galen brings Archibald to eye level. “Time to say goodbye, I think. I shant keep you waiting for the next round.”
“I agree. It is time to say goodbye,” Archibald responds.
I feel a rush of warmth through Archibald’s symbiants. They fill me with love—his love.
“Compos mentis,” Archibald says in his raspy whisper.
Galen’s face blanches. “What? No.” Galen drops Archibald’s head as he jumps from the throne, knocking Gart out of the way. “No!”
My body is aflame with Archibald’s love for me, with his final act of sacrifice.
Galen falls to the floor, his open eyes staring, seeing nothing. Gart remains unmoving for a moment, then takes a step forward, his eyes on the android at his feet. Just before he disconnects the com, I see him level a rib-crunching kick at Galen’s still form.
Compos mentis—Archibald’s symbiants inform me it is a safeguard against android malfunction. It renders both the speaker and the subject inert, dormant, until they can be returned to a repair station for diagnosis.
Archibald’s symbiants flare inside me.
And then they are gone.
Nic grasps me to him, crushing my chest against his own. He sacrificed himself for us, he says. For humankind.
I have no words with which to answer. Inside, Archibald’s symbiants bond permanently with my own, allowing me to keep a little piece of him—forever.
Nic kisses the center of my left palm before grinning wickedly and placing my hand on the console once again.
He links his thumb with mine, then spreads his own hand palm down. I do what I have always loved to do—I join with the ship and enlist her aid to save the human race. While Nic kiss, kiss, kisses me, the antivirus pours from both of us and races through the networks.
After a time, long after my knees have gone weak and my lips are worn raw from kissing, the ship’s com beeps. Nic leans back and grins his mischievous grin. “It must have worked.”
I smile back and we help each other to our feet, then collapse into the chairs in front of the console. I open the com and the video screen comes to life.
“We’ve been offline for near thirty minutes,” bursts General Karolov. “What in the stars happened?”
“Status?” Nic responds.
“I—” The general shakes his head, a deep frown creasing his face. “Damned if I know, Sir. But . . . a lot of us are alive. I’d say that today, that’s a victory.”
“Thank you for your report,” Nic says with a dry chuckle as he opens another com. “Inform me of any new developments,” he says before disconnecting with the general.
Every incoming report is the same. Three minutes ago all the androids collapsed, lifeless.
We conference in more officers, then repeat the process several times over the next twenty minutes; but no one knows what has become of the Mind—where they are or what their status is. I keep expecting Galen to initiate contact any second and prove we haven’t succeeded, but no word comes.
It isn’t until we’ve finished communicating with the fleet that we reach out to the nearest ship-state—New California. When the com springs to life, a rosy-cheeked young woman appears before us.
“New California?” I ask.
“Is it true?” The girl’s eyes flick up to my forehead and when she sees the Crown she gasps and her hand flies to her mouth. She glances at Nic who sits beside me and tears well up in her eyes. “It is true! Thank the stars!”
She turns away from us, shouting to
anyone within earshot of her very loud voice that the prophecy has come true. I share a smile with Nic.
“New California? New California!” I have to shout to get the girl’s attention, and when she whirls back to me, her face flames an even brighter shade of red.
“I’m so sorry, M’Lady! Please forgive me.” She bows her head so low her forehead touches the console and only the top of her hair can be seen.
“It’s all right, but we need to speak with you.”
She pops back up. “Yes, of course my Lord and Lady.” She smiles, seemingly thrilled to be able to use those words. “Anything, M’Lady.”
“Do you have any andies on your ship? Guards? Or Servants?”
Again the girl’s head bops up and down before I finish speaking. “Oh yes, M’Lady! ’Bout ten minutes ago they all keeled over! But they’re stirrin’ a little now—see?” She steps back from the console and grabs a site point for the screen, dragging it across the control room. She shows us nine Mind soldiers, lying in a hapless jumble on the floor. I see a couple hands moving, one droid lifts his head.
“Everything went black—the ship just blinked out, like it’d gone to sleep! The Mind, they just laughed. Said some nasty things about how we were going to starve to death, suffocate or freeze—or all of it at once! I don’t have to tell you we were mighty scared, thinking we were all goners, like they said.”
Behind her, I see two children poking at the androids and giggling.
“Stop them—” I try to say, but the woman talks right over me.
“Then those nasty andies dropped right to the floor! At first we didn’t know what had happened, since we couldn’t see nothing, but sure enough, when the lights popped back on, they were all like that—” She glances over her shoulder and spies the children pulling on the arm of one of the droids. Even as I watch I see the black veins of the virus receding on the android’s wrist. He won’t be unconscious for much longer. The woman looks back at us and shrugs, a sideways upturn of her lips.
“What’s wrong with ’em, then? When’re they gonna wake up?”
“You need to eject them,” I say, rising to my feet. “Now. All of them. Send them out the chutes, the hatches—just do it now!”
Nic is mere seconds behind me—he’s got coms open, issuing the order to eject the andies.
For a minute, no more, we’ve spread the word across the fleet, but when I collapse into my seat I feel as if it’s been a lifetime. Exhaustion rides on every breath as I work to slow my heart rate.
“Hello? Hello?”
I key on the com and discover the ruddy-faced girl from New California smiling back at me. I can’t stop the smile that overruns my face, and Nic isn’t any help—he is grinning like twice the fool I am.
“Are you the captain of New California, then?” I ask.
The girl gasps. “What? Me?” She shakes her head, chuckling. “No, no, I’m no captain.”
“May we speak to him or her?” Nic asks.
The girl’s face glows with pride. “My husband’s one of the pilots and when these good-for-nothins showed up last night they shoved all the crew into the brig. My Henry gave ‘em a run for their money. Plowed a left fist right into one the andie’s eye socket!” Behind her, one of the children—a boy—acts out the scene from the night before. I can’t help but giggle, watching him.
“And did you get the androids ejected from your ship?” I ask.
The girl blushes again. “Sure did!”
“Then release your crew, . . .?”
The girl beams. “Aw, my name’s Starshine, M’Lady, but everyone just calls me Shiney.” It is impossible not to smile at this simple woman with so much cheer—no wonder her friends call her Shiney.
“Well then, thank you for the excellent work, Shiney,” Nic says very seriously.
Shiney stands up straight and salutes. “Yes, Sir! You’re, uh, welcome, Sir!” Behind her, the children salute too. Nic and I laugh and return her salute which somehow elicits an even brighter smile from the woman.
“We’ll report back my Lord and Lady!”
“You do that, Shiney. And thank you,” Nic says.
“Oh no, thank you M’Lord! Thank you, M’Lady!”
Still laughing, Nic and I end the com. We barely take three breaths before another hail comes in, then another and another.
Reports pile in from all across the two empires—the Mind androids have all been ejected into space.
At last there is silence in the Con. Sera sighs and rubs her eyes.
“Come on.” I stand and reach for her, helping her to her feet. At her touch I am rocked to the core with gratitude and love. I pull her to me and wrap my arms around her. Even Bonded as we are, I wish we could be closer still.
I place my hand on the back of her head and cradle her to my chest. She is quiet, even her thoughts are subdued. I decide to give her as much space as the Bond allows and I will hold her as long as she wishes it.
“The Servants,” she says in a near-whisper. “Not all may have sympathized with Galen and the Mind.”
I don’t intrude on her thoughts, but wait, hoping she will trust me with them. There weren’t many Servants among the android population as they were primarily created to Serve the royal families—but there were perhaps a few still commissioned.
I know Archibald was special to Serantha—his dedication and love for her is inspiring. But my Servant was a traitor. I don’t say it, but I think Archibald was unique—he was more than android. And I think love made him that way.
After a time, Sera pulls back and drops her arms, slipping her hand into mine. She offers a gentle touch on my mind that tells me she is okay. We are okay.
I lie in bed, facing the wall that’s obscured by the filmy pink curtain surrounding the bed. Everyone on my floor is asleep, Nic breathing deeply beside me. I can’t reach out and touch the ship’s wall, the room is much too big for that. But I can feel her. I can hear her.
She still isn’t filled to capacity—none of our ship-states are. Because of the Mind, the human population has been reduced to a mere one million, three hundred and seventy-six souls—and seven-hundred thousand or more are members of the Eastern Empire, which is still ruled by Nicolai’s father.
One day, the East and the West will become one.
But not today. Though what we do today will be for all our people.
I roll over and press against Nic’s warm back, curling my arms around him. His breathing shallows and his symbiants transfer his feelings to me. Warm, content, happy. Before his eyes have even opened, he turns over and pulls me into his arms. Technically, we’ve been Bonded since that day when we were children—but certainly since the moment we accepted one another as we escaped from the Mind’s ship.
Today we will make it official.
I look to the foot of the bed, where a clothing stand holds our costumes for the day—white to represent the purity of our royal line, red accents to represent the blood we share.
Today we will be married in the traditional sense and unite our kingdoms as it was prophesied we would do.
“Do you think they’ll take it?” I say, my words rising to the ceiling before they are swept away by the soft drapes. I don’t have to clarify that I am talking about the Infusion—it is the only thing we are unsure of about this day.
“I think most will,” Nic murmurs against my hair. “Those beyond child-bearing years may not, but I suspect at least many of the young mothers or eligible girls and boys will.”
He scoots back a little, stuffing his pillow under his head to prop himself up. I slide back so we can see each other’s faces. “Would you take it?” he asks, his pale blue eyes serious.
I answer without hesitation. “Yes.”
“Even after all the Mind has done—are you not afraid of what humans might become?”
I take his hand from where it has been smoothing the hair down my back and place it over my heart. “We are human. Our hearts rule us, not our minds. And that is what makes
us stronger, what makes us better.”
The shadow in his eyes darkens still. “I know, but not all people’s hearts are good.”
He is right, of course, but I don’t want to try to predict the future. I don’t want to assume that the royal family is inherently better than anyone else.
“I think this is what the Creator wanted. He was right about us, wasn’t he? I think this is a gift meant for everyone.”
Nic blinks slowly and when he opens his eyes again, the shadows of doubt have left him. He pulls me close again. “I know. And I agree.”
“Besides. Maybe we’ll be wrong and no one will want to take the Infusion and this discussion might as well never have happened.”
He takes a breath and I feel him open his mouth to speak, but the ship beats him to it.
It is time.
Ten minutes later, I have just exited the washroom when Minn knocks on the door. At my welcome, she and Dillon enter and set about preparing our clothing. Minn ushers me into my dressing room while Dillon takes Nic away.
I watch Minn in the mirror while she does my hair, and think about Lily. I catch Minn’s fingers with my own.
“Sera?” she asks, but my eyes are closed and I don’t say anything right away. I just need to feel, to be here, in this moment. To remember all the people who gave their lives and to remember that I would do everything in my power to protect them.
When I open my eyes I find Minn watching me, worry etched on her face. Her right hand, the one that holds the brush, still hovers mid-air, as if she’s afraid to move, to even breathe for fear of upsetting me.
“I am not upset, Minn. And nothing’s wrong. I’m just sad for all the people we’ve lost.”
Minn presses her lips together and bows her head, pretending to focus on my hair but I know she is really fighting tears. Though I hadn’t wanted to, I told her what happened to Sher and her mother. Later we learned Tam died at the hands of the Mind who invaded New Oregon. I can’t even guess at all Minn has lost.